Early Communication and Literacy

At Firs Primary, we provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences to support all children in developing Communication and Language and Literacy skills. These include sharing high-quality stories and poems, learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes, taking part in activities that develop focused listening and attention (including oral blending), and being exposed to high-quality language.

Our Nursery provision ensures children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending when they start Reception.

We use Little Wandle Foundations, which is aligned with the non-statutory guidance of Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters, as well as the EYFS statutory framework. This is part of our wider provision for Communication and Language and Literacy. It supports children to:

• Develop phonological awareness, including rhyme, alliteration, syllables, initial and voice sounds, and oral blending

• Enjoy stories and rhymes, learning a bank of familiar favourites by heart

• Increase their vocabulary and confidence to talk

• Improve their listening skills and ability to take part in back-and-forth conversations

We teach phonics for 30 minutes every day. In Reception, lessons start at 10 minutes and include daily oral blending games, gradually building to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers. Children make a strong start in Reception, with teaching beginning in the Autumn term.

We follow the Little Wandle programme expectations:

• Reception: Children are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, as well as words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.

• Year 1: Children review Phase 3 and 4 and are taught to read and spell words using Phase 5 GPCs with fluency and accuracy.

• Daily Keep-Up Lessons: Any child who needs extra practice receives daily keep-up support, taught by a fully trained adult. Keep-up lessons follow the same structure, resources, and procedures as class teaching but break learning into smaller steps with more repetition to ensure every child secures their learning.

Year 2: Year 2 begins by using assessment to check that children have completed the Little Wandle Year 1 progression. Any gaps are addressed through daily phonics lessons until the programme is complete. Corresponding summative assessments ensure that all content is secure.

Rapid Catch-Up for Years 3 to 6

At Firs Primary, we provide daily phonics lessons for any child in Year 3 and above who is not yet reading at age-related expectations or who has not passed the Phonics Screening Check. These children need to catch up quickly, so the gap between them and their peers does not widen.

These lessons are short and focused, lasting 15 to 20 minutes each day, and are designed to help children rapidly reach age-related expectations in reading.

Children who are new to our school, new to the country, or new to English are assessed using the Rapid Catch-Up assessments to quickly identify their needs. These assessments help us pinpoint gaps in phonic knowledge, which we then teach using the Rapid Catch-Up resources at pace.

We reassess children every four weeks using the Rapid Catch-Up summative assessments to track progress and inform ongoing teaching.

At Firs Primary, we value reading as a crucial life skill. By the time children leave our school, they read confidently for meaning and regularly enjoy reading for pleasure. Our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary independently.

We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. These sessions:

• Are led by a fully trained adult in small groups of around six children

• Use books carefully matched to each child’s secure phonic knowledge, following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments and book-matching guidance

Each reading practice session has a clear focus to ensure that children are not overloaded and can concentrate fully. Sessions are designed to develop three key reading skills: decoding, prosody (reading with understanding and expression), and comprehension.